Chapter 20: Keynote

Marisa's POV

The hall at the Mostra d'Oltremare held eight hundred people, and every seat was taken.

I stood behind a black curtain with a glass of water I could not drink.

Through a gap in the cloth I could see the front row.

Pina sat in it in her best green dress, and she had brought a bag of sfogliatelle for the people on either side of her.

Next to her sat Gaetano, in a suit, with his hands on his knees.

He caught my eye through the gap, though he could not possibly have seen it, and he nodded once.

At the very back of the hall, standing against the wall, was Ilaria in an apron.

She was carrying a tray of coffees for the catering company that had hired her from Pina's bakery.

She saw me looking and lifted the tray an inch.

I put my hand over my mouth.

"Don't you dare laugh," whispered the stage manager.

The Fenice chairman walked to the lectern and tapped the microphone.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he said. "For six years I believed I was doing business with a family."

He paused until the room settled.

"I was doing business with one woman, and she never once asked for credit.

"It took a very foolish toast, one autumn evening, for me to see how much I owed her."

The hall made a low, warm noise.

"It is my honour," he said, "to introduce the woman who runs the Port of Naples."

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